OK, the final result: On my boat, the clamping bolt on the tiller arm has to be completely removed before the tiller arm can be removed. Once I did that the tiller arm wiggled off, and the rudder gradually slid out the bottom without binding. I used a floor jack to hold it in place so that it didn't fall on the floor.

I chased the threads where the broken zerk was with a 1/4-28 tap, put in a new zerk with some thread lock.

There were two O-rings on the rudder shaft, top and bottom. I replaced them at a cost of $1.10.

I used some 1200 grit wet sandpaper to touch up the rudder shaft (which wasn't bent, BTW). Reassembly was easy, just lubed everything, now it's all buttoned up. Now I only have to wait until next April to try it out.

This is a pic of my re-assembled steering assembly. There are three zerks: one in the foreground on the cable clamp, one just past that one the steering cable, and in the distance there's one on the rudder shaft housing.

When I dropped the rudder I found that there is very little extra room in there. The shaft is 1 1/8", and the housing is just a few thousandths bigger. Mine has upper and lower O-rings, and they seal very well. In other words, you just can't pump more grease into it as you would a wheel bearing; there's no place for it to go.

You can see the tiller arm on top of the shaft, and the clamping bolt on the right side of the picture. The bolt had to be completely removed, not just loosened, before the tiller arm came off.

I would venture that you can't pump more grease into the zerk because the system is already full of grease. When my zerk broke off I found that it was corroded, so maybe you want to replace yours. It would be easy to do, just unscrew it. I bought some new zerks, got ten for $6.50. (This will be a lifetime supply for me!)

Thank you Miss Rita, you may have just saved me some time. I tried to pump grease into the zerk fitting and I couldn’t get any grease in their I assumed the fitting was bad, or corroded. I thought that’s how you filled the rudder box with grease. The other two zerk fitting took grease just fine.

When I dropped the rudder I found that there is very little extra room in there. The shaft is 1 1/8", and the housing is just a few thousandths bigger. Mine has upper and lower O-rings, and they seal very well. In other words, you just can't pump more grease into it as you would a wheel bearing; there's no place for it to go.

You can see the tiller arm on top of the shaft, and the clamping bolt on the right side of the picture. The bolt had to be completely removed, not just loosened, before the tiller arm came off.

Have fun!

Sorry that I didn't keep up with this thread, I may have been able to save you a little bit of time. But for others that may venture into this project, here is the link to when I removed my rudder. Like you said, the bolt has to be completely removed from the tiller arm before you can drop the rudder. It's not like a battery clamp. http://www.mastercraft.com/teamtalk/...ghlight=rudder

My rudder box has a small groove cut into the I.D. which allows the grease to be pumped into the box and exit out a small hole in the bottom....provided that the groove is not clogged up with dried up grease. You can see the groove in one of the pictures. I'm not sure which year boats have this set up.

__________________“You realize your odds of winning the lottery are the same as being mauled by a polar bear and a regular bear in the same day”….E-Trade Baby.

Hi Bob, I am sure there is meant to be a white nylon washer about 1/8" thick and 2"diameter between the rudder and the port. ie. Put washer on shaft then slide rudder in from underside. I gather you are still experiencing problems. Have you actually had your rudder completely out yet? Because I found mine was caked with dry grease up in the port, and once cleaned out I could get grease to ooze out of the little hole about the size of a pinhead underneath. Curious does yours have the winged rudder or not? Cheers, Peter

Peter, I decided to grease the rudder again, it finally took some grease. Looked under the boat (on a lift) and saw a fine string of grease. Took the boat for a drive, no binding